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Some cars really speak for themselves, and some cars have a lot to say when it comes to speaking for themselves. Then there's this 1982 Chevrolet Corvette Caballista for sale on Hemmings.com, a Les Dunham creation that sports less than 20,000 miles on its Cross-Fire V-8 and appears pretty much as it did almost 35 years ago, which would probably never shut up. From the seller's description:
16870 original miles. Crossfire fuel injected L-83 V8 with automatic transmission, leather, tilt, power brakes, steering, windows, seats. Mirrored T-Tops, etc. Vin # 1G1AY0786C5102444.The Caballista Corvette was factory built from 1977 to 1982, so this is one of the last ones ever built. Built on a brand new 1982 Collectors Edition Chevy Corvette, with a 5.7 Litre L-83 V8 and a 700 R4 automatic transmission. Includes 4 wheel power disc brakes, power steering, power windows and seats, tilt and telescopic steering wheel, AM/FM cassette, 2 tone leather interior, tinted windows, removable mirrored T-Tops, custom silver paint with charcoal accents, custom front and rear end, full chrome bumpers, side supercharger pipes (for show only), Rolls styled grille, and mag wheels. Built by Les Dunham of Dunham Coach Motor Car Company in Boonton, N.J. He started customizing cars in 1957. Some of his cars were used in films, notably a James Bond film. This car really turns heads!
See more Chevrolet Corvettes for sale on Hemmings.com.
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Ten years ago Brian Fahey was alive and well, enjoying his drive to the Syracuse Nationals in New York when he saw his first gasser-style Ford Falcon parked by the road at NYS Fairgrounds. At the time, gassers were relegated to hipster meets at Bob’s Big Boy in Burbank or racing in tightly knit gasser associations. Neither were inviting to the curious or uninitiated, so the build style was still a novelty at huge mainline shows like the Nats. Still, the car had Fahey’s attention. “It was an early ‘60s Falcon with a tunnel ram, and a straight axel,” says Fahey. By the time he had entered the fairgrounds, he had a lead on a base 1962 Falcon stashed away in a garage close to his house, and a plan to build one for himself.
John Machaqueiro
Based on the description of the car he heard over the phone, he made a deal to buy the car sight unseen. “The car was completely stripped, the fenders were zip tied together, and all the parts were unlabeled in boxes,” Fahey says. “I don’t care what kind of cars they are, I only see what I can do with them.” In his mind, he saw a nose-high Falcon gasser, just like the one in New York. After calling a friend with a trailer, he drove the 15 miles from his home in Old Forge, to Dallas, Pennsylvania to gather the parts and get them home.
After sorting through the bins, he called painter Carl Lucarelli of Lucarelli Paint and negotiated a color. “I suggested Hot Rod Black from SEM and Carl said, ‘anything but Hot Rod Black,’” Fahey says. They agreed that Wimbledon White was era-correct, and the fenders, doors, and hood would be painted while Fahey prepped the body.
The body was clean with only a small amount of rust near the roof, but otherwise was rust free. Fahey blew it apart in his garage, ordered a gasser kit from Speedway Motors, and sent the engine out for a rebuild. Fahey was looking for fenderwell headers that fit an early Falcon body when he found a set of Schoenfeld headers designed for circle track racing that looked like they might work for the project. He got the manufacturer on the phone and had a pair sent out for fitment. Since roundy-round guys build asymmetrical cars, one side fit, and the other did not. Back on the phone, Fahey talked them into building a mirror image set that he bolted to the 302.
Back at the paint shop, Lucarelli suggested radiused wheelwells to fit the 15x10-inch Rocket wheels and 29x10 piecrust tires. Using ½-inch tubing and some metal-working kung-fu Fahey developed in the Navy and later as a professional machinist and welder at Owens Illinois, they added subtle flairs to the job without using filler or anything other than sheetmetal and welding rod. Since this was to be a fairgrounds build, he used a set of 165 VW skinny tires in front on 15x4.5-inch rims.
Behind the 302, Fahey kept the C4 and added a 9-inch on leaf springs with Monroe “overload” shocks. While looking for more suspension goodies, he ran across a guy on the internet selling homemade ladder bars from a '70s Studebaker drag racing effort. Weirder than that, the bars fit the car, requiring that Fahey only add shackles to the front of the suspension to let it move. He added frame connectors and completed the roll cage with crossbars that connect both sides of the cage, and provide mounts for the Jeep CJ5 seats. Using the original steering column, Fahey used his Jeep-building experience to set up a rear-steer linkage system that utilized the original steering box. Under the hood he cut out the shock towers for the headers and downbars and fabricated a pair of shock mounts. In the rear, he kept the factory fuel tank in its stock location and built an 18-guage rear firewall and deleted the rear seat.
Once Fahey finished the fabrication and assembled the roller, it went to Lucarelli who finished the paint in one week. Fahey picked up the car and had it ready two weeks later for the indoor car show nationals in Oaks, Pennsylvania, and the Motorama in Harrisburg. There were no gasser classes at the shows, but that didn’t stop the car from getting both attention and offers to buy it. Fahey made a splash for three or four years with his gasser build. Things were good, he had built a winner. Life was good. Then he died.
“I was dead for 30 minutes,” Fahey says with a weird gleam in his eye. “I had 100-percent blockage of the widow maker and went down at work.” The EMTs brought Fahey back during the ambulance ride to the hospital, and Fahey woke up with several broken ribs and a new outlook on life.
“I met a girl who asked me why my cars looked like race cars when I don’t race them,” he continues. “So I invited her to the Jalopy Showdown at Beaver Springs and ran 13s. On the last run I killed a lifter.” He pulled out the 302 and bought a 416-hp 347 from BluePrint Engines, additional safety gear like certified belts, a new helmet, and slicks, and continued to race. He swapped the stock tank for a fuel cell and mounted the battery in the truck. At Island Raceway, the car went 12.01 before the transmission gave up. Despite the minor setbacks, the suspension he built for the street worked well on the track, and the car was fast. He ran the car locally for four years, consistently running 12.01 in the quarter mile.
Thinking back on the health scare (he was dead for 30 minutes) he decided to get serious about the future. Currently, Performance World in Moosic, Pennsylvania is bolting together a Windsor-based 408 with a “big” solid roller cam and “big” AFR heads that should make 700 horsepower. Jack Sepanek from Sepanek Racing Transmission is bolting together a healthy Powerglide to take some violence out of the launch and prevent any oildowns. We met Fahley running 12.01s at Hemmings Musclepalooza 2024 at Maple Grove Raceway in Pennsylvania and plan to see him again when he is trying to handle 700 horsepower on leaf-springs and living for the day.
<p>Join us for Musclepalooza in 2024!</p><p>-April 13-Maple Grove Raceway, Mohnton, Pennsylvania</p><p>-May 11-Dragway 42, West Salem, Ohio</p><p>-September 21-Firebird Motorsports Park, Phoenix, Arizona</p><p>-October 12-Orlando Speed World, Orlando, Florida</p><p>For more information visit: <a href="https://www.hemmings.com/event/musclepalooza" target="_blank">https://www.hemmings.com/event/musclepalooza</a></p><p>Questions? Contact us at <a href="mailto:events@hemmings.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">events@hemmings.com</a> or 800-227-4373</p>
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Detroit Free Press
Joseph Tegerdine, an 18-year-old Springville, Utah, teen is living his life to the fullest, driving his new 2020 Ford Mustang, a dream car that he was once working to save up to buy for himself. In a twist of fate six years ago, his dad decided to make the purchase happen sooner so his son, who was diagnosed with terminal cancer, could squeeze every ounce of happiness into his life while he still can.
"I've just liked Mustangs for as long as I can remember. Six-year-old me liked it, the headlights looked cool, and I stuck with it," Joseph told the Detroit Free Press. "I used to drive this Ford Bronco. It was a big truck, basically. I'd get compliments and I'd feel so manly. We sold that and I started driving my mom's minivan, a Honda Odyssey. I felt like my testosterone was being drained away. Not great."
He laughed, continuing: "In a Mustang I feel like a man again. It's the silliest thing. When you get in and start it, the car just rumbles around you. It's not a noise, it's a feeling. When you take corners, you can feel you're being pushed through the corner from the back. I like the way rear-wheel drive feels. When you turn the (steering) wheel, what I feel are cleaner turns."
When his dad made a post on X about his purchase, he had no idea about the offer his son was about to receive.
"For those wondering why I’d buy my 18yr old son a 330hp Mustang, well, he’s been given months to live and can’t work long enough to buy one himself. His comment on the way home, 'Dad, I’m going to squeeze a few extra months of life just to be able to drive this.' #cancersucks"
As of this writing, the post has over 13.8 million views.
For those wondering why I\u2019d buy my 18yr old son a 330hp Mustang, well, he\u2019s been given months to live and can\u2019t work long enough to buy one himself. His comment on the way home, \u201c Dad, I\u2019m going to squeeze a few extra months of life just to be able to drive this.\u201d #cancersucks— (@)
Joseph Tegerdine, Joe’s son, was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a form of bone cancer, in 2018, after severe knee pain caused him and his parents to seek medical attention. After the diagnoses, the then seventh grader underwent chemotherapy treatments. Treatment also included a rotationplasty, a procedure where the compromised bone is cut out, the lower leg rotated, then tibia and fibula reattached to the femur.
In reply to the heartfelt post, Ford CEO Jim Farley replied, “Hi Joe, I’m so sorry to hear what your family is going through. Please let me know if you and your son would like to attend @FPRacingSchool to experience a @FordMustang Dark Horse on the track. DM me and we’ll make it happen.”
"It was really crazy. That tweet was just kind of random," Joe Tergerdine told the Free Press. "He sent a direct message to me, saying, 'Hey, you want me to do this?' If it's OK, his guys would get everything set up ... at the Ford Performance Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. They're flying us out there. It's just really cool, and we'll stay in Charlotte for a couple of days. There's a big dinner before school. Then Joseph will be on the track with the (Mustang) Dark Horse."
“I get to drive one of the most powerful Ford track Mustangs there is. This is going to be sick," Joe commented.
"You have to live day by day because, day by day, if you look at my life, it’s actually fantastic. I'm in Japan right now. I've got a car of my dreams, I'm surrounded by tons of people I absolutely adore and I'm going to driving school," he told the Free Press. "Then you look at the future, and it all starts to break down. I don't really need to look at the future. Morbidly, I don’t really have one. I can’t be, like, 'In a year —' If I get a year, I’ll be extremely lucky."
Joseph will continue radiation and chemo treatments while living his best life, checking more dreams off his bucket list with his family.
Source: The Detroit Free Press
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